Thermoelectric cooling apparatus

ABSTRACT

A thermoelectric cooling apparatus is described. The thermoelectric cooling apparatus includes a heat-dissipating barrel, a wind guide, cooling fins, and a guiding fan. The heat-dissipating barrel further includes a thermoelectric chip cooling module and heat-dissipating fins disposed therein to remove the heat exchanged by the thermoelectric chip cooling module. One end of the wind guide is coupled to a heat source of an electronic device, for example, a CPU or a graphic chip of a computer. Another end of the wind guide is coupled to the cooling fins coupled to the thermoelectric chip cooling module. The guiding fan drives air passing through the cooling fins to reduce a temperature thereof and blowing to the heat source to reduce the operating temperature thereof.

RELATED APPLICATIONS

The present application is based on, and claims priority from, Taiwan Application Serial Number 95203659, filed Mar. 6, 2006, the disclosure of which is hereby incorporated by reference herein in its entirety.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention generally relates to a thermoelectric cooling apparatus. More particularly, this invention relates to a thermoelectric cooling apparatus for a computer system.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

The information technology and the computer industry are technologically highly developed and the semiconductor manufacturing processes have very advanced requirements. Therefore, the electric circuit layouts of semiconductors have become more complicated and more sophisticated. Complicated and sophisticated semiconductors have higher power consumption, which results in an increase in the operating temperature thereof.

However, semiconductor electronic components are used extensively in computer products, communication products and consumer electronic products. In addition, the central processing unit (CPU) with powerful functions and performance uses more power so as to generate more heat inside the 3C products, especially inside computer products. The high operating temperature can cause instabilities in a working system. Furthermore, if the operating temperature is too high, the performance and stability decrease and the operating system may even crash, in extreme situations.

Some conventional heat-dissipating devices are directly disposed on the CPU to remove the heat generated by the CPU with a fan blowing air towards heat-dissipating fins on the CPU so as to reduce the operating temperature of the CPU. The volume of the heat-dissipating device is increasingly larger since the heat generated by the CPU is increasing.

However, when the heat generated by the CPU is removed from the CPU, the heat still resides in the computer. Therefore, the heat has to be emitted out of the computer through a heat-dissipating device of the computer. In general, the heat-dissipating device of the computer is a fan in conjunction with the power supply to emit high temperature air out of the computer.

A larger fan is therefore installed in the computer to emit the heat inside the computer. Accordingly, the volume of the heat-dissipating device of the computer is also increased. The larger heat-dissipating device has to occupy more space inside the computer otherwise the stability of the computer system may be reduced because there is too much heat inside the computer.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

One object of the present invention is to provide a thermoelectric cooling apparatus with a thermoelectric chip and a wind guide to directly cool down a heat source, such as an integrated circuit device, of an electronic device.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a thermoelectric cooling apparatus with a thermoelectric chip and a wind guide in conjunction with a power supply and a heat-dissipating module of a CPU so that the thermoelectric cooling apparatus can reduce both the temperature of the CPU and the internal temperature of the computer.

To achieve these and other advantages and in accordance with the purpose of the present invention, as embodiment and broadly described herein, the present invention provides a thermoelectric cooling apparatus to cool a heat source of an electronic device, for example, a central processing unit or a graphic chip of a computer. The thermoelectric cooling apparatus includes a heat-dissipating barrel, a wind guide, cooling fins and a guiding fan.

The heat-dissipating barrel further includes a thermoelectric chip cooling module and heat-dissipating fins disposed therein to remove heat exchanged by the thermoelectric chip cooling module. One end of the wind guide is coupled to the heat source of the electronic device and another end of the wind guide is coupled to the cooling fins. The guiding fan is installed on the wind guide to drive the airflow through the cooling fins so as to reduce the temperature of the airflow and the airflow is blown to the heat source of the electronic device to reduce the operating temperature of the heat source.

The heat-dissipating barrel further includes a heat-dissipating barrel fan to remove the heat out of the electronic device. The thermoelectric cooling apparatus may further include heat source dissipating fins coupled to the heat source and the guiding fan blows the airflow to the heat source dissipating fins to reduce the operating temperature of the heat source. The airflow first passes through the heat source dissipating fins and is then guided into the interior of the electronic device. Alternatively, the airflow first passes through the heat source dissipating fins and is then emitted out of the electronic device.

The wind guide preferably connects to another wind guide to increase the flow rate of the airflow to cool the heat source. The air of the airflow is preferably sucked out of the exterior of the electronic device. In addition, the wind guide is preferably composed of an inlet wind guide, an intermediate wind guide and a wind cover. The inlet wind guide directly sucks air from the exterior of the electronic device to form the airflow, and the wind cover directly covers the guiding fan, which is closed to the heat source to fully guide the airflow to the guiding fan. The wind guide is made of a heat insulation material, for example, a plastic material.

The thermoelectric cooling apparatus according to the present invention can suck the air outside the electronic device and cool the air with the thermoelectric chip cooling module. In addition, using the wind guide conducts the air to directly reduce the operating temperature of the high power integrated circuits, for example, a CPU or a graphic chip. Therefore, the operating temperature of the integrated circuits can be effectively reduced. Furthermore, because the air is cooled by the thermoelectric chip cooling module, the temperature of the air is lower than the environmental temperature and the internal temperature of the electronic device can be further reduced.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The foregoing aspects and many of the attendant advantages of this invention will be more readily appreciated as the same becomes better understood by reference to the following detailed description, when taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, wherein:

FIG. 1 illustrates a schematic view of a thermoelectric cooling apparatus according to the present invention;

FIG. 2A illustrates a schematic perspective view of a preferred embodiment of the thermoelectric cooling apparatus according to the present invention;

FIG. 2B illustrates a front view of the preferred embodiment of the thermoelectric cooling apparatus according to the present invention; and

FIG. 2C illustrates a side view of the preferred embodiment of the thermoelectric cooling apparatus according to the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

The following description is of the best presently contemplated mode of carrying out the present invention. This description is not to be taken in a limiting sense but is made merely for the purpose of describing the general principles of the invention. The scope of the invention should be determined by referencing the appended claims.

Refer to FIG. 1. FIG. 1 is a schematic view of a thermoelectric cooling apparatus according to the present invention. The thermoelectric cooling apparatus 100 includes a fan 112, heat-dissipating fins 114, a thermoelectric chip cooling module 116, cooling fins 118 and a wind guide 130. The fan 112, heat-dissipating fins 114 and thermoelectric chip cooling module 116 are disposed inside the heat-dissipating barrel 110. The cooling fins 118 are coupled to the thermoelectric chip cooling module 116 to cool air 120 sucked from the outside so as to form cooling air 122. The cooling air 122 is directly blown to a heat source 170, such as a CPU, a graphic chip or any other IC with high power consumption, through the wind guide 130 to effectively reduce the operating temperature of the heat source 170.

In addition, one end of the wind guide 130 can be combined with a heat-dissipating device, for example, a fan 140, heat-dissipating fins 150 and a heat plate 160, of the heat source 170 to increase the heat-dissipating efficiency of the thermoelectric cooling apparatus 100. The heat-dissipating device can be an original heat-dissipating device or a new heat-dissipating device specially designed for the thermoelectric cooling apparatus. The heat plate 160 is preferably directly contacts with the heat source 170 to transfer the heat generated by the heat source 170 to the heat-dissipating fins 150, and the fan 140 forces the cooling air 122 to pass through the heat-dissipating fins 150 to remove the heat from the heat source 170 with the air 124.

The thermoelectric cooling apparatus 100 may further includes another fan 142 disposed between the wind guide 130 and cooling fins 118 to drive the air 120 from the outside into the cooling fins 118 and further to the fan 140 through the wind guide 130 to increase the heat-dissipating efficiency thereof. The wind guide 130 is preferably made of a heat insulation material, such as the plastic material.

The heat is exchanged to the heat-dissipating fins 114 inside the heat-dissipating barrel 110 through the thermoelectric chip cooling module 116 to cool the air 120. Subsequently, the heat is emitted from the interior to the exterior of the heat-dissipating barrel 110 of an electronic device by the fan 112. Since the air 120 is forcibly cooled by the cooling fins 118 and the thermoelectric chip cooling module 116, the temperature of the air 120 can be effectively reduced to form the cooling air 122 whose temperature is much lower than the temperature of the environmental air. Therefore, the heat source 170 can be operated under a lower operating temperature so as to increase the stability of the integrated circuits and the electronic device.

Refer to FIG. 2A, FIGS. 2B and 2C. FIG. 2A, FIG. 2B to FIG. 2C are a schematic perspective view of a preferred embodiment of the thermoelectric cooling apparatus according to the present invention. The thermoelectric cooling apparatus 200 in conjunction with a power supply 214 uses the electrical power supplied by the power supply 214 to drive the heat-dissipating element, for example, the thermoelectric chip cooling module 250 and/or the fan 264. Preferably, the heat exchanged by the thermoelectric chip cooling module 250 can be effectively exhausted to the outside of a computer case through the heat-dissipating barrel 260.

The thermoelectric cooling apparatus 200 includes a power supply 214, a wind guide 270, a thermoelectric chip cooling module 250 and a heat-dissipating barrel 260. The power supply 214 further includes a fan 212, a power socket 216 and voltage transforming elements disposed inside the case 210. The power supply 214 can provide the power for the thermoelectric chip cooling module 250 and the power for the electronic device, such as the computer. In addition, the fan 212 can cool the electronic elements of the power supply 214 and also emit the air inside the electronic device to the exterior of the electronic device.

Inside the heat-dissipating barrel 260, the thermoelectric cooling apparatus 200 further includes heat-dissipating fins 262 and a fan 264. The heat-dissipating fins 262 is coupled to the thermoelectric chip cooling module 250 to exhaust the heat exchanged by the thermoelectric chip cooling module 250 out of the electronic device though the airflow driven by the fan 264. Cooling fins 222 are coupled to the other side of the thermoelectric chip cooling module 250 to cool the air sucked from the outside of the electronic device and the cooled air is then transported to an adjacent position to a CPU 240 through the wind guide 270.

The wind guide 270 further includes an inlet wind guide 220, an intermediate wind guide 224 and a wind cover 226. The cooling fins 222 are preferably disposed in the inlet wind guide 220 and/or the intermediate wind guide 224. The wind cover 226 is preferably connected to another side of the wind guide 270 and preferably covers a fan 232 to fully transport the air cooled by the thermoelectric chip cooling module 250 to the CPU 240. The thermoelectric cooling apparatus 200 can further include a CPU cooling module 230 fixed on the CPU 240. The CPU cooling module 230 preferably includes the foregoing fan 232 and CPU heat-dissipating fins 234. The CPU heat-dissipating fins 234 are coupled to the CPU 240 to remove the heat generated by the CPU 240 with the airflow driven by the fan 232. The airflow driven by the fan 232 is cooled by the cooling fins 222 so that the temperature thereof is lower than the environmental temperature. Due to the low temperature airflow forced to cool the CPU 240, the CPU 240 can be operated under a lower operating temperature so as to increase the operating stability and efficiency thereof.

Because the airflow for cooling the CPU 240 can be lower than the environmental temperature, the temperature of the airflow is preferably lower than the internal temperature of the electronic device even after the airflow is heated by the CPU 240. Therefore, the airflow can be further utilized to cool the internal electronic elements inside the electronic device, such as the computer, to further increase the operating stability and efficiency of the electronic device. The airflow can be directly emitted out of the electronic device after the airflow is heated by the CPU 240. The fan can be a centrifugal fan, an axial fan, or a diagonal flow fan.

As is understood by a person skilled in the art, the foregoing preferred embodiments of the present invention are illustrative of the present invention rather than limiting of the present invention. It is intended that various modifications and similar arrangements be included within the spirit and scope of the appended claims, the scope of which should be accorded the broadest interpretation so as to encompass all such modifications and similar structures. 

1. A thermoelectric cooling apparatus, comprising: a heat-dissipating barrel with a thermoelectric chip cooling module and heat-dissipating fins disposed therein, to remove a heat exchanged by the thermoelectric chip cooling module; a wind guide coupling to a heat source of an electronic device; cooling fins disposed between the wind guide and the thermoelectric chip cooling module; and a guiding fan installed at one end of the wind guide to drive an airflow through the cooling fins so as to reduce a temperature of the airflow, wherein the airflow is blown to the heat source of the electronic device through the wind guide to reduce an operating temperature of the heat source.
 2. The thermoelectric cooling apparatus of claim 1, wherein the heat-dissipating barrel further comprises a heat-dissipating barrel fan to remove the heat out of the electronic device.
 3. The thermoelectric cooling apparatus of claim 1, wherein the electronic device is a computer.
 4. The thermoelectric cooling apparatus of claim 3, wherein the heat source comprises a central processing unit.
 5. The thermoelectric cooling apparatus of claim 3, wherein the heat source comprises a graphic chip.
 6. The thermoelectric cooling apparatus of claim 1, further comprising heat source dissipating fins coupled to the heat source, the guiding fan blows the airflow to the heat source dissipating fins to reduce the operating temperature of the heat source.
 7. The thermoelectric cooling apparatus of claim 6, wherein the airflow passes through the heat source dissipating fins and then is guided into the interior of the electronic device.
 8. The thermoelectric cooling apparatus of claim 6, wherein the airflow passes through the heat source dissipating fins and then is exhausted out of the electronic device.
 9. The thermoelectric cooling apparatus of claim 1, further comprising a guiding fan installed at another end of the wind guide.
 10. The thermoelectric cooling apparatus of claim 1, wherein the airflow is directly sucked from the exterior of the electronic device.
 11. The thermoelectric cooling apparatus of claim 1, wherein the wind guide further comprises an inlet wind guide and a wind cover, the inlet wind guide directly sucks air from the exterior of the electronic device to form the airflow, and the wind cover directly covers the guiding fan to fully guide the airflow to the guiding fan.
 12. The thermoelectric cooling apparatus of claim 1, wherein the wind guide is made of a heat insulation material.
 13. The thermoelectric cooling apparatus of claim 1, wherein the wind guide is made of a plastic material.
 14. A thermoelectric cooling apparatus, comprising: a heat-dissipating barrel with a thermoelectric chip cooling module and heat-dissipating fins and a heat-dissipating barrel fan disposed therein, to remove a heat exchanged by the thermoelectric chip cooling module out of an electronic device; a wind guide coupling to a heat source of the electronic device; a power supply electrically connecting and providing power to the thermoelectric chip cooling module, the heat source and the heat-dissipating barrel fan; cooling fins disposed between the wind guide and the thermoelectric chip cooling module; heat source dissipating fins coupled to the heat source; and a heat source fan installed on one end of the wind guide to drive an airflow through the cooling fins so as to reduce a temperature of the airflow, wherein the airflow is blown to the heat source dissipating fins of the electronic device to reduce an operating temperature of the heat source.
 15. The thermoelectric cooling apparatus of claim 14, wherein the electronic device is a computer.
 16. The thermoelectric cooling apparatus of claim 15, wherein the heat source comprises a central processing unit.
 17. The thermoelectric cooling apparatus of claim 15, wherein the heat source comprises a graphic chip.
 18. The thermoelectric cooling apparatus of claim 14, wherein the airflow passes through the heat source dissipating fins and then is guided into the interior of the electronic device.
 19. The thermoelectric cooling apparatus of claim 14, wherein the airflow passes through the heat source dissipating fins and then is emitted out of the electronic device.
 20. The thermoelectric cooling apparatus of claim 14, wherein the wind guide further comprises an inlet wind guide and a wind cover, the inlet wind guide directly sucks air from the exterior of the electronic device to form the airflow, and the wind cover directly covers the guiding fan to fully guide the airflow to the guiding fan. 